The issue with “gotcha” journalism is that the press isn’t invited to actually engage with what the Washington Commanders VP is saying. The press has instead made the issue about the way in which he said it.
Is there a high-level of homophobia and bigotry amongst the Commanders’ players? That would be a newsworthy question to investigate. Is Jerry Jones a racist/homophobe?
Of course pretty much all outlets choose not to investigate these claims, even if they were made publicly. One big reason is access reporting. This might be particularly true in the realm of sports reporting, where such investigations would likely result in teams and leagues turning off the access taps to outlets such as ESPN. Instead the story becomes about Rael Enteen, and it’s easy to portray him as an aggrieved liberal, probably some guy with an axe to grind and symptomatic of liberal moral bankruptcy. It’s much easier for the MSM to sell this narrative, especially when the comments were made in private.
Also, let’s not forget that the Commanders organization fought long and hard to preserve a pejorative term for Native Americans as their team name. Ultimately they had to cave to pressure, but MANY internally were not happy about it. A liberal traitor in their ranks? That would not be tolerated.
